THE SPOTLIGHT CLUB
Kr!ss Foster, Carole Coates, Sam Barker, Ann Wilson and Little Hero

The Yorkshire House, Parliament Street, Lancaster
Thursday 16 February 2005

Some jewels in a good evening's entertainment
in words and music

I had not been in this pub since I was a student here, ooh, many years ago, and was delighted to see that it has not changed at all. In these grim days of noise-box theme and chain pubs, this is a veritable oasis and just what a good, friendly public house should be. Long may it stay the same.

So onwards upstairs to the function room, and into the evening's entertainment, though we had missed the open platform session earlier. First up was the outrageous Kr!ss Foster, attired in a leopard suit and an attitude which took no prisoners. Deftly accompanying himself with guitar, mouth organ and kazoo, he told us about what to do if you're short of cash (don't ask – this is alternative comedy!), and declaimed his deadpan Ode to Morecambe which tells us that "Morecambe is a place by the sea But it's not in Italy', in Foster's own distinctive style of verse.

Following his final musings on necrophilia, Digging Up a Date, was not easy for Carole Coates, though her Bad Sex Gallery (a 'tribute' to Tracy Emin) helped bridge the culture gap. Coates also has a distinctive voice of her own and a sensitive awareness of what poetry should deliver, and the poems she read come from her forthcoming collection "The Goodbye Edition', to be published in the summer by Shoestring Press. Her tribute to her "first feminist icon,' a teacher at her convent school, notes sharply that "the nuns couldn't understand her lipstick and irony.' I don't think the staff at my own school understood my sense of humour, either.

White Hair (read it here) wittily reflects on age, sex and attraction, and her well-enunciated performance closed with Chinese Kite, a short, epigrammatic and vivid tribute to the Cockling Tragedy over a year ago. This is fine verse, and I am looking forward to reviewing her impending volume.

Third up was the 19-year old Sam Barker on his Spotlight debut. This young man, reading English Literature and Creative Writing at Lancaster University, and performing in the University Theatre Group's Frankenstein: The Re-creation later this week, is also eminently gifted. His short story, She Digs, exclusively published here for the first time (click here to read it) is a surreal and skilful narration of a groups of friends, a garden shed, death and bread rolls. Barker has a fine turn of phrase; "ineffable' is a word rarely used by anyone these days (look it up!), let alone a youngster, and "her glacé-cherry lips' is immediately evocative. Barker's delivery is also very assured in spite of first-night nerves, and puts many a BBC Radio 4 reader to shame. He should go far.

He was followed by Ann Wilson, a lit-gig regular with, again, her own style of words and music, though not one that I could really identify with.

Last came the tall and striking lyricist, singer and guitarist Little Hero, who during the day is not a painter and decorator called Pete Rawlinson. His voice has a wonderful range and sensual quality when both subdued and more passionate, his guitar solos reminiscent of Albeniz, and his lyrics intelligently introspective. I'm letting my head flay away, and the admission that "I never meant to hurt you, you're my best friend' were particularly memorable.

My only quibble of this enjoyable evening was the microphones and amplification. Good diction, which most poets, actors and singers have anyway, should not need them. They can be a serious distraction, and a disservice to the clarity and audibility of the performers. Besides, the audience were entirely rapt and dutifully silent.

That aside, another good ‘first-time' experience this week for your correspondent, and one I would heartily recommend to anyone who enjoys live literature, music and comedy. Given appalling paucity of decent television at the weekends [and the rest of the week – Ed], and if you want a change from your own favourite haunt, this is a regular event that is hard to beat in these parts.

Copyright © 20 February 2005 Michael Nunn (words) and Ron Baker (images)